Princess Transfers - HELP

[ivielane]

I know I have read it somewhere, all the info on the transfers but for the life of me I cannot find it anywhere. Been into "search" all afternoon, nothing, just cruisers saying they did the transfers. I do realize they do meet you as you disembark from the plane but what about disembarking from the ship? Don't you have to pick up your own luggage and then what? Thanks for any information......

[FredS]

In port, if you have put your luggage outside your stateroom the night before, you will get off the ship and after going through immigration you will find your luggage in a large room. You pick up your luggage and go through Customs. Once past Customs you will be met by a Princess rep who will guide you to your ride. Sometimes you take your luggage a short ways to the bus where it is loaded, sometimes you leave it with the Princess rep who gets it on the bus and you see it at the airport, pick it up and start the check-in process for your plane. You always have to handle your own luggage going through customs. This shows ownership and then Customs can pull the luggage out of line they want and the owner is there with it. It seems to me 95 percent of the time you just walk through Customs and out to the street. One time we declared a pearl necklace and we were pulled out of line with our luggage for further inspection.

[agabbymama]

There are folks there to help you with your luggage. You have a ticket for the transfer the same as an excursion, so you have that in your hand, and the guy will wheel your luggage out to the bus for the transfer.

 

Be prepared, Princess transfers are not cheap. We paid $24 pp in Venice for a 5 minute ride.

 

Ask your TA or if you booked directly with Princess, give them a call. They can tell you what the prices will be.

[dennbr9]

We seldom use Cruise line transfers. Exceptions are in some foreign countries where you have a ways to travel. Taxi or car can be more expensive.

 

In US I would just use a Porter to get me a Taxi and head for the Airport, or just take a Taxi to the ship. Too many long delays at Airport and Pier with CL Buses and usually a Taxi is no more expensive.

 

Then again I seldom use Cruise Air ( always go at least one day early) and book own Hotels, etc.

[miss prairie girl]

Our experience in disembarking was very similar to FredS's writeup. It was less than one hour from the time we entered our "Waiting Area Lounge" on the cruise ship at Fort Lauderdale to the time we walked into the Fort Lauderdale airport. Everything was so smooth and pleasant. The value of our tranfer voucher was $15 which was part of the Princess travel package.

We flew in the night before our cruise left. Our experience at the airport was very similar. A pleasant Princess rep met us as we came out to pick up our luggage and directed us to a waiting area. We then boarded a bus which took us to our hotel, luggage and all. Again, all of this happened in less than a hour.

The next morning, we were transferred from the hotel, luggage and all, to where our cruise ship was docked. This was 45 minutes!

Princess certainly has their pickup and transfer of passengers and luggage honed to a fine art. We were very pleased with the smoothness of it all.